Burning Graphene Micro-Supercapacitors

It seems the world wants ever smaller technology as phones and tablets are made more and more powerful with every generation. Of course some technologies are not as easily miniaturized for use in these smaller platforms, including batteries and capacitors. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles however have developed a new way to create micro-supercapacitors that has great promise.

Personally, I have never used a LightScribe disc, though at least one of my burners supported the technology, but one of these researchers must have. The researchers adhered a piece of plastic to a DVD and then coated it in graphite oxide. When laser light strikes graphite oxide, a photo-thermal effect takes place and converts the compound into graphene, and as the LightScribe technology allows the laser to trace arbitrary patterns, the researchers were able to burn micro-supercapacitors onto the disk.

After less than 30 minutes, the researchers had successfully created over 100 micro-supercapacitors on the disk, using a commercially available LightScribe burner. Altogether, this technique represents a simple and cost-effective means to create graphene micro-supercapacitors, so we may one day see them used to store the energy for future devices.